WASHINGTON, DC — Sociologist Holly G. Prigerson, an epidemiological researcher
at Boston’s Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, was the lead author of JAMA's (Journal
of the American Medical Association) article titled "An Empirical Examination of
the Stage Theory of Grief," in the February 21, 2007, issue. The article
featured her research on individuals’ changing experience of grief over time.
Prigerson’s study was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, the
National Cancer Institute, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and
Stroke, the Center for Psycho-Oncology and Palliative Care Research, the
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and Women’s Health Research at Yale University.
Prigerson et al.'s bereavement research examined the process of grief and
closely studied the different stages of mourning among subjects who had lost a
close loved one as a result of natural death.

Prigerson’s article has
received world-wide and wide-ranging national press coverage including articles
in The Boston Globe, The Los Angeles Times, and Reuters, and a
segment on National Public Radio’s Morning Edition program on February
20, 2007.

For more information, see the Dana-Farber press release. The article’s abstract and full text can be
found on the Journal of the American Medical Associationwebsite, where you can also purchase the article.

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request an interview or comment, contact Sujata Sinha at (202) 247-9871 or via
email at ssinha@asanet.org.

Journal of the American Medical Association
article examines counter-intuitive patterns and stages in the grief process

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